A Director’s Void – The Inspiration Behind Outstanding Cinema

A Director’s Void – The Inspiration Behind Outstanding Cinema

Let’s face it; apart from a few disenchantments, an illusionary existence has always been an arousing one. Reeled in poetry and passion, cinema is way of life for many. Speaking purely from a psychological perspective, we all love to live in a second world where we get to applaud heroic performances and get a hang of love.

But thank god, we have a few gems in the industry to throw light upon subjects like valor, viciousness, and vengeance. And those who are eloquent with matters like witchcraft, voodoo, and the zombies. Though the industry trends force me to see the commercial side of cinema, I fail to see the box office numbers correctly – is that what they mean by popular cinema?

Earning big bucks because of the big names that they show in the end and a stanza or two to create some buoyancy in the markets – I think that’s the only definition I’ve ever known about movies as a business.

From a Directors Perspective – Showcasing His Voice vs. Showcasing his Void

How many times does it happen that we are all caught in dreams that are flung far from reality. Undoubtedly, there is a certain charm about a distant future or a secret past that floats silently somewhere in the sub layers of our cerebral cortex. From that river of imagination that is devoid of the thrill of drama, flows a stream of effigies telling tales of a barren land that was marred in a riot or one of a raw teenage love. It’s when someone is devoid of the riches that one dreams about palatial abodes and kingship. Is that what gets a director’s camera rolling? To a major extent, that’s true. The rest of the effort stems from inspiration. However, it’s not a void of gloominess or the deprivation that propels creativity. The executioner is blessed with an ability to give life to his voice, his beliefs. That’s when his inner voice takes over.

A Work of Voice – Kaneto Shindo (Through‘The Life of a Film Director’)

Set in 1975, The Life of a Director, is an exemplary work of Kaneto Shindo, the movie offers incredible insights into the life of Kenji Mizoguchi (a Japanese director) as well as on the intricacies of the reel world.

Enwrapping stories from silent to sound cinematic pursuits, the documentary on Mizoguchi gets magnificent when it showcases the time of Second World War and how Mizoguchi, a director completely deprived of something as essential as film clips managed to create awe-inspiring sagas. On the edges (not literally though) the documentary showcases Shindo as an interview who is seen on-screen probing into the personal life of Mizoguchi.

A Work of Void – Ang Lee (Through ‘The Life of Pi)

Something completely different than Shindo’s works, yet utterly consuming, we have ‘The Life of Pi’. But why do I say that it’s a work of void? Simply because if there was a way of making a flick with a real tiger, it wouldn’t be an inspiring one. It’s Ang Lee who knew that without a tiger on screen, Pi is incomplete. This was a void that had to be filled with imagination. And that’s exactly what made a million people gasp – a wondrous creation that made them jump on their seat with every roar and pounce on screen. (3D kept its promise. What a magnificent technology!)

Wrapping Up

It’s an inkling of a hope that jumps fences to be with a better day. Everything might just be a scripted play, written by the almighty at a time he was devoid of love and felt a lack of attention. His void was to be filled by a stage that the homosapiens had to take over. His voice was to make the world a dramatic and an ever entertaining opera to live, laugh and love!